ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENTS OF SAINT PETERSBURG. ST. ISAACS CATHEDRAL Author: S.M. Tkhagusheva Gymnasium 76, Sochi, Russia

St. Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It was founded in 1703 гимназия 76, г. Сочи, Тхагушева С.М.

The beauty of the city amazes and takes the breath away. There are a lot of architectural monuments. St. Petersburg can be called Palace City indeed.

One of the most amazing constructions in St. Petersburg is St. Isaacs Cathedral.

In 1816 Alexander I charged the young French architect Auguste Ricard Montferrand with designing the Cathedral. гимназия 76, г. Сочи, Тхагушева С.М.

The cathedral was being built for 40 years. Looking at it one can understand how much afford was made in order to carry out the architects plans. The Cathedral was being built on a swampy soil. Nearly 11 thousand piles and 120 granite columns were used to build it. The heaviest columns weigh was 144 tons. It took workers only 45 minutes to set the columns in their places.

In plan the Cathedral is an equilateral Greek cross with four porticos. It is faced with grey Karelia marble. There are a lot of big arch windows. On the top of the Cathedral there is a great golden dome. The Cathedral is 101 m high. гимназия 76, г. Сочи, Тхагушева С.М.

The diameter of outer dome is 25 m. 100 kg of pure gold was used for building the main dome.

On the porticos there are statues of 12 apostles. In the left side Peter the apostle hands the keys to the gate of Eden.

In the right side Paul the apostle hands a sword which is the symbol of his earnest service to Christ.

On the northern relief you can see resurrection of Christ and in the centre there is Christ risen from the dead. Beautifully made sculptures wonder.

The Cathedral is wonderful in any season.

Fill in the missing words: 1. In________ Alexander I charged the young architect with designing the cathedral. 2. It was being built for _____years. 3. It took workers ____minutes to set the column in its place. 4. The total height of the cathedral is _______meters. 5. ______kg of pure red gold was used for building the main dome. 6. On the porticos there are _____apostles. 7. Peter the apostle hands _________________________ 8. Paul the apostle hands _________________ 9. ________________________supervised the building of the cathedral and was its architect

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